Gaiam International, Inc.

About Gaiam International, Inc.

If you're into living a healthy, sustainable lifestyle, Gaiam is your kind of company. The name Gaiam (pronounced "guy-um") is a combination of Gaia (the Earth goddess) and "I am." Most of the company's sales come from proprietary products and media for consumers interested in yoga, fitness, and wellness. Other merchandise includes organic cotton apparel, bedding, and personal care and home care products. Gaiam boasts a library of more than 7,000 DVD titles and a TV channel (which the company plans to spin off). It also owns a stake in Real Goods Solar, which designs and installs solar energy systems. Gaiam's offerings are sold through catalogs, its e-commerce site, and major retailers (including Target, and Whole Foods).

Operations

Gaiam operates through two primary segments: Gaiam Brand and Gaiam TV. The Brand segment generates just under 95% of revenue and includes all the yoga, fitness, and wellness products, as well as distributed media. The TV segment, which the company has proposed spinning off, accounts for the rest of sales and includes Gaiam's digital video subscription service.

Geographic Reach

Colorado-based Gaiam rings up about 95% of its sales in the US. Other markets include Australia, Canada, and the UK. The company has facilities in Colorado, Illinois, and Ohio.

Sales and Marketing

Gaiam's fitness accessories and media titles are sold in more than 38,000 stores worldwide. Its largest customer is Target, which accounted for 44% of its accounts receivable in 2014. Other retail outlets that carry the company's products include Wal-Mart Stores, Amazon.com, Costco, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sports Authority, Whole Foods, among others.

Financial Performance

Gaiam reported sales of $167 million in 2014, up 7% from the prior year and the first year of growth since 2011. Gaiam Brand added $7 million of the growth because of a major new customer account and growth in wellness (Gaiam Restore) and fitness (SPRI by Gaiam) product lines. Subscriber growth in the TV segment added another $4 million of the overall revenue increase.

The company hasn't reported profit since 2010, although the loss in 2014 (about $10 million) was an improvement over the $23 million loss the prior year.

Strategy

Gaiam has established itself as a leading lifestyle media company with products and services geared to consumers interested in personal growth, fitness, wellness, ecological lifestyles, and responsible media. The company's efforts to strengthen its brand include growing its media library to more than 7,000 titles through acquisitions and internal development, developing more proprietary products (94% of sales), increasing its focus on the direct-to-consumer channel, and expanding its store-within-store presence at national retailers.

In October 2013, Gaiam sold its non-branded entertainment media distribution operations to Cinedigm Corp. for $51.5 million, to better focus on its core businesses. In 2015 it announced plans to spin off its Gaiam TV segment into a separate public company.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Strengthening its core yoga franchise, in October 2014 Gaiam acquired Yoga Studio, a top ranked yoga app on Apple's App Stores. The purchase will allow Gaiam to expand its distribution in the app space. In late 2013 the company acquired My Yoga Online, Canada's largest online yoga video streaming subscription business and merged it with Gaiam TV.

Company Background

Chairman Jirka Rysavy, founder of Corporate Express, started Gaiam in 1988. Rysavy owns about 25% of the company.